


growing pains

by nebulousviolet



Category: H.I.V.E. Series - Mark Walden
Genre: Drabbles, Gen, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, and also bonding!, otto and raven are tracking down the disciples together, set in that weird twilight era between aftershock and deadlock, taking the found family trope and running it into the ground
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27323542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebulousviolet/pseuds/nebulousviolet
Summary: Otto and Raven spend six months hunting the Disciples. It comes with the unfortunate side effect of something like bonding.
Relationships: Otto Malpense & Natalya | Raven
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	1. hawes

**Author's Note:**

> i am just constantly fascinated by the way walden threw otto and raven together, the two characters who mirror each other the MOST, for several months, and didn't do anything with it. anyway here i am, doing things with it in a series of drabbles and one shots lmao

They’re in some small-town cafe - and Raven is categorically Not Happy about that, Otto knows, but it just so happens that they’re at a perfect midpoint between safe houses and they’re both starving and exhausted so she’s just going to have to deal - and Otto is picking apart a full English with his knife and fork, frowning as he moves his mushrooms to the other side of the plate. Raven is watching him, fascinated. Or maybe she’s just watching the door; she hadn’t been very happy about their seating position, either, with Otto’s back positioned at the exit, and she’s the most paranoid person alive. Otto really doubts that anybody’s going to stab them in a sleepy village in North Yorkshire, but what does he know. Raven would probably launch into some cautionary tale if he bothered to ask.

He nudges a tomato, and Raven cracks. “Have you always been such a picky eater?” she demands, and it kind of sounds like a fight. Otto doesn’t think it’s meant to be one - Raven is just awful at small talk. He shrugs.

“I guess,” he says, and glances up through his lashes. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”  
“Like I’m some out of touch feudal lord,” he says, and Raven blinks at him, unfazed. He’s pretty sure she has no idea what he’s talking about. “I know you grew up in the Soviet Union and everything, but surely even you have foods you don’t like.”

“You have no idea how I grew up,” Raven says, but again, she doesn’t sound mad. She sips her tea - black, unsweetened, and Otto’s fairly sure that if she could live purely off violence and pure determination, she would. “Fine. I can’t eat poppy seeds.”  
  
This catches Otto’s attention; he sets his cutlery down, eager to chase up the threads of the conversation. “Can’t isn’t the same as won’t,” he reminds her, just shy of outright mockery; it’s a phrase she repeats at him whenever he’s complaining about having to move locations, again. “What, are you allergic or something?”   
“No,” she rolls her eyes. “They show up as opiates on drug tests.”

“You get drug tested.” It isn’t a question so much as a statement. 

“Standard G.L.O.V.E procedure,” she informs him. “It’s frowned upon for those running the cartels to be seeking pleasure from them. And a kill is so much cleaner when you’re sober.”

Of course it is, Otto thinks, but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he takes a bite of bacon, assuming the conversation to be over. It’s not the greatest meal he’s ever had, but it’s a delightful break from the monotony of eating whatever dried food Raven has in the safe house, and, anyway, he wasn’t expecting it to be. Raven sips her tea again, folds her hands nigh-on delicately in her lap, almost enough to distract from the lines of tension flowing from her shoulders down through her spine.

And then she says, so quiet that it’s practically inaudible, “I don’t like oats.”  
“No?” Otto frowns. There’s no urge to mock her about it; she doesn’t look vulnerable, because she’s Raven, but it feels important anyway.

“No,” she confirms. She studiously avoids eye contact. “There was a time when all I had to eat was oatmeal and water, once per day, for a month. I’ve never been able to keep them down since.”  
“I’m sorry,” Otto offers, woefully inadequate.   
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she says, and the moment breaks. “Hurry up. We need to be out of here in five.”   
“Nobody is going to be looking for us-” Otto squints at the map on the wall, “-in _Hawes_.”

“Because we’re not going to give them the opportunity to,” she says firmly. Otto tries hard not to be annoyed, and fails. “Anyway, don’t tell me you don’t want to shower.”  
  
He does. In fact, Otto is practically _desperate_ for a shower. He wolfs down the rest of his bacon, downs his orange juice, and nods. Raven stares at his still half-full plate impassively.

“Such a waste,” she says, and shrugs on her trench coat. She jerks her chin at him. “Lead the way.”


	2. munich

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The swear jar is a stupid idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> zhopa - ass/asshole, also used as a playful endearment. how it's used here is open to interpretation :)

“What the fuck,” Otto says, frowning at his laptop screen. Even though he is technically, officially, expelled, Nero still keeps emailing him essay prompts and not-so-subtly expecting work in return. If Otto thinks about sub-prime lending any longer, his head is going to explode. “Maybe I just won’t go back to H.I.V.E after all.”   
“You don’t mean that,” Raven says from her seat opposite. She’s polishing guns, because she’s an action-movie stereotype. Almost as an afterthought, she adds, “Swear jar.”   
  
The swear jar had been H.I.V.E.mind’s suggestion, because apparently Otto and Raven’s combined volume of profanity increased his stress levels (could artificial intelligences _get_ stressed?). Admittedly, the language had been getting out of hand, but that's beside the point. Most of it is on Raven’s end, anyway; she knows a variety of curse words in both Russian  _ and  _ English, and seems to delight in finding new ones that corroborate with whatever region they find themselves in. He suspects that that’s why she was thumbing through her English-German dictionary earlier when they crossed the Franco-German border the other day, although he’d been doing the same thing, so he’s in no position to criticise her for it.

The swear jar is a stupid idea. It’s not like they’re truly  _ losing  _ anything; Otto can always raid an ATM when they’re low on cash, and they’re both adults (well, Otto’s not eighteen until August, but close enough). Yet the resentment he feels at being told to fill it is somewhat frightening. Shelby would make a snide remark about it being a symptom of his general disdain for authority, but Shelby’s not here, and, believe it or not, Otto’s not idiotic enough to start an outright fight with Raven, so he has to settle for bitching about his own irritation to himself. Which isn’t half as satisfying.

“There’s interest for hesitation,” Raven says, and gets up to shake the jar at him, taking the opportunity to flick the back of his head. It’s pretty unfair, Otto thinks, that he gets all of the downsides of a sibling and none of the privileges. And then he realises that he’s correlating  _ Raven  _ with the idea of a  _ sibling _ , and the thought is so horrific that he fishes the ten euro note out of his pocket and throws it into the jar without comment.

She frowns at him. “I wasn’t actually expecting that to work,” she says.

“I’m full of surprises,” Otto says, staring fastidiously at the computer screen. Maybe he should take a break. The brightness is giving him a headache, which would explain the previous weirdness. “You know me.”   
“I do,” Raven narrows her eyes at him. She does not seem remotely happy about this. “ _ Zhopa. _ ”

“That feels like a swear,” Otto says snottily. “Should I get Big Blue to confirm?”

Raven hesitates, then adds another five euros to the jar without being asked. “Just so you don’t go around repeating it,” she says, which is the point of the swear jar anyway, so he doesn't know what her deal is, and then stalks back off to her guns and ammo, leaving Otto to his evil, evil essay.

He wonders what they’re even going to do with the swear jar money, when this is over. Maybe they can buy another safe house, or something.


End file.
